All posts tagged Kingpin Act

Treasury targeted John Zabaneh, who it said has been a drug trafficker since the 1980s, along with his nephew, Dion Zabaneh, and a close associate, Daniel Moreno. Zabaneh’s network, linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and its leader Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera, has played a central role in the drug trade in Central America, especially in Belize, Treasury said.

Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, also known as El Azul, has used money from his involvement in the drug trade to build a network of businesses that includes a housing development, a shopping mall and an industrial park, Treasury said.

Four individuals and three entities were designated under the Kingpin Act for their role in laundering drug money for alleged international drug trafficker Ayman Joumaa. The Treasury also designated a Colombia-based individual as a terrorist for directing the Americas fundraising activity of Hezbollah.

The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, charges the defendants with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. It accuses the Zetas of directing part of the cash generated from selling drugs to buy, train, breed and race quarter horses in the U.S.

The traffickers, an Albanian Kosovar, a Mexican and an Afghan, were named in a one-sentence letter to congressional leaders signed by Obama in which he cited the power under the Kingpin Act to impose sanctions. Since June 2000, it’s only the 14th Kingpin Act determination announcement by a president, a Treasury spokesman said.

They lead a precursor chemical trafficking organization that imports multi-ton quantities of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa into Mexico, where they distribute it to drug traffickers who make methamphetamine to sell in the U.S., Treasury said.

The action against the Moldovans, Zeyneddin Geleri, Cerkez Akbulut and Omer Boztepe, freezes their assets. Also sanctioned Wednesday was a Romanian resident, Omer Geleri, and three Romanian companies for their ties to Zeyneddin.

OFAC named Mexican nationals Oscar Alvarez Zepeda and Joel Valdez Benites, and Colombian national Carlos Mario Torres Hoyos, saying they provide “material support to the drug trafficking activities” of Chapo Guzman, head of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Along with Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly and Mohamad Zouheir El Khansa, the Treasury said it designated nine other individuals, as well as 28 entities linked to them spread across Colombia, Panama, Lebanon and Hong Kong.

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